A Different Shade of Red
by Sello
Summary: Steve has always had a crush on Natasha - she reminded him of Peggy. However, he had never acted upon it. She belonged with Clint. The same way that he belonged with Peggy... {I do not own Marvel}


**I got my idea for this one shot from The Avengers Head canons on tumblr. Submission 126, if anybody wants to know. Now, my OTP is Clintasha, but I wanted to experiment with new ships. Enjoy!**

**~I do not own the Avengers~**

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**A Different Shade of Red**

Steve Rogers wasn't doing much this morning. He was just sitting on the island in the kitchen, reading the newspaper, with a cup of coffee in his right hand. Yes, he was old fashioned, and he still read the newspaper. He was surprised when Tony let him subscribe for a daily update. Now, every morning he would wake up with a newspaper on his bed side.

Steve sighed, as he turned the page. Everything seemed normal. _Normal_. Stark Tower wasn't normal. It never has been, and it never will be. Tony was in the lab with Bruce, Clint and Natasha were training, Pepper was at work, and Thor and Jane were in New Mexico. Steve was alone in the kitchen.

Suddenly, Steve heard footsteps entering the kitchen. Steve quickly looked up, only to see Natasha Romanoff walking in. She looked like she had been training, as all she was wearing was her yoga pants, and her sports bra. Steve, still wasn't used to women showing so much skin, and buried his head in his newspaper, pretending that he hadn't seen her.

"Morning, Steve." Natasha called as she walked over to the fridge. She hadn't straitened her hair in a while, so it was so much more curly. When Steve didn't reply, Natasha frowned. "Steve?"

"Morning, Lady Romanoff." Natasha chuckled.

"You mean, Natasha." She closed the fridge, and sat opposite him on the island.

"Lady Natasha." Steve said, still not looking up. He had no idea how to talk to half naked women.

"Well, you weren't kidding when you said that you didn't know how to talk to a woman." Natasha joked. Steve froze. Those words. Well, not exactly those words, but those similar words. They had been spoken by someone else.

And before Steve knew it, she reminded him of her. Her feistiness. Her independence. Her way of 'not caring'. Her personality. Her humour. It was like having another Peggy with him.

Okay, so maybe he had a tiny crush on Natasha. He knew that he shouldn't, but he did. It was not like he ever acted upon it, or ever even thought about acting upon it. She was with Clint. Her and Clint were soul mates, the same way that he and Peggy were. He could never imagine being with anybody else, but Natasha. There was something about Natasha that made him question himself sometimes.

Steve put his mug down. His palms were sweaty. Why were they sweaty? They never got sweaty, unless he was nervous. Why was her nervous?

"Morning Caps, Spidey." The obnoxious voice boomed through the room. Tony Stark had officially entered. Of course, Steve didn't hate Tony. Actually, they were pretty good friends, but just like everyone else, he just wished that he wasn't so…Tony. "Hey, Ginger, you might want to get dressed _before _you come for breakfast." Before Steve knew it, Tony was on the floor with Natasha's foot firmly on his arc reactor, and a gun pointing at his face. Steve didn't even bother to comment. This kind of thing was normal in Stark Tower. However, all he could look at was Natasha.

"Do not _ever_ call me that again." Natasha growled at him.

"You do realise that if Birdy was to walk in right now, he would assume something that-"

"Stark." Natasha warned him. The billionaire sighed.

"Alright, alright, I won't call you Ginger again." Natasha let him go. " But I get to call you Spidey, at least." Tony said, while getting up. Natasha rolled her eyes, as she put her gun away.

"You're an ass, Stark." She commented, and she sat back down on the island as if nothing had happened. Steve tried not to look up, but he couldn't help himself. She was beautiful. It was not that he hadn't noticed before, but she was actually very beautiful. Maybe she didn't look a lot like Peggy – she was practically the opposite, but it didn't mean that she wasn't as beautiful as her.

It was as if it was Peggy in somebody else's body. The way she attacked Tony for simply annoying her…that's something that Peggy would do. The way she hid her feeling, and only opened up to certain people…that's something that Peggy would do. He just wished that one day, Natasha could open up to him.

"So where is Birdy, anyway?" Tony asked.

"He's on a mission." Natasha sighed.

"For how long?"

"Only a couple of days. It's a quick one." Natasha commented. Well, that's what she told herself. The truth was, no matter how long they were away from each other, four days, or four months, it always felt like forever. There was no-one else in the Tower who knew her like Clint did. She wasn't particularly 'close' with any of the other Avengers. She loved them all, but Clint was the only one for her. If Clint wasn't there, it was no-one.

Steve looked deeply into Natasha's green eyes. Peggy may have had brown eyes, but he loved Natasha's green ones just as much. He didn't know many people with green eyes, so Natasha's were beautiful. Natasha caught Steve staring at her, and let a small smile escape her lips. A smile. Natasha hardly ever smiled. Most of the times she smiled, or laughed, she was with Clint. Natasha may have smiled at him, but Steve knew that it was just a friendly smile. It didn't mean anything. Just like their friendship.

"Steve." She said quietly. Steve continued looking at her. "Are you alright?"

"Never better, Ma'am." Steve lied, coldly. It was just a crush. A meaningless crush.

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**Awh! Don't hate me for making this really sad/fluffy! I had to! I told you, Clintasha is my OTP. Please reveiw! =D**


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